horror movie

the conjuring, annabelle, la llorona, the nun, the warrens

Is the Conjuring franchise going on too long…

Movies, Netflix, Uncategorized

I recently went with a friend to see The Conjuring 3 which was just released. I have also seen all of the movies in the conjuring franchise including La Llorona which I just found out happens in the same “universe”. But if we think about it really, there are 3 Annabelle movies so far, 3 Conjuring, The Nun and La Llarona.

Granted that is a lot of films but I love them. I will not pretend they are all good or that I don’t think there are ones you can skip. The friend I went with hadn’t seen all of the movies and I basically told her, I felt like you could either take or leave Annabelle, Annabelle comes home and The Nun. Even so, I would still watch them again (In fact I have re-watched most)

It seems to be a type of trend to create a successful franchise and make it go on too long, for instance, we also went and saw Spiral (the most recent in the Saw franchise), which seem to keep going despite quality in order to make money. Another example could be Star Wars or Star Trek… sorry. So, was The Conjuring one of these?

I don’t think so, while that is a lot of movies for 1 franchise to make and them all be connected, I think it is viable because there are somewhat based on true stories, there are consistent fresh stories and characters. I think this is important to not keep too close to the original plot. The Saw films, in my understanding are all basically about the killer brutally murdering people and using games. Whereas there are different demons, spirits and characters in The Conjuring.

https://t.cfjump.com/73456/t/60414?Url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.tedbaker.com%2fau

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

I will admit, I liked it but it wasn’t my favourite of the movies, also wasn’t my least favourite (I think lots of people agree with that being The Nun). The new movie is different in they show a legal side, a court case, and there is satanic rituals occurring rather than just poltergeists. We also get to see more of the aftermath of a possession than just the during.

While we are on the subject of The Devil Made Me Do It, I thought I would talk about the scariest moment for me in the cinema. We were about halfway through the movie, being the only people in the showing and felt as though we had actually heard something real, that wasn’t in the film, we ignored it for a moment before looking up to see a woman standing right next to us who had accidentally walked into the wrong cinema. The pure shock of knowing you are the only ones watching a movie and looking up to see a woman standing right next to you is a lot. Very funny afterwards but truly shocking when it happened.

I love the film versions of the Warrens and although they change the original stories for theatrics, it is interesting knowing you can go and read these stories after.

Honestly, I don’t think the franchise has gone on too long, maybe we could leave Annabelle behind for a while but I would watch any movie they make at this point. I haven’t gotten tired of them. And maybe that is just because I love a good supernatural thriller or I am fascinated by the concept of ghosts and spirits. But in any case, I would watch anything they make, especially with Ed and Lorraine. Ed and Lorraine for me really light up these films. If you want a bit more back story on their love story check out the new Conjuring as we get a glimpse into their meeting.

Without Ed and Lorraine this franchise wouldn’t be what it is. I think that shows in the lack of success of The Nun and La Llorona which didn’t feature the Warrens. Maybe Annabelle is going too far, despite it’s connection to the Warren family, without Ed and Lorraine in the first two, it is missing something. Although, so long as the franchise continues following events in the Warren’s lives, they can probably easily keep making movies. But let’s make sure we learn from The Nun and not make them boring.

Thanks so much for reading, please let me know your thoughts or any suggestions for movies to watch like The Conjuring films. Don’t forge to check out my socials below.

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‘House at the End of the Street’ is actually really good…

Movies, Uncategorized

Let me explain,

SO, I’ve seen ‘House at the End of the Street’ honestly, probably, 5 times at this point and those who read my Curse of Chucky review post will know, I’m more into the supernatural type horror. This is probably at least, in part, because it is further from reality. However, I think this is a really good movie for several reasons.

I think it is scary because of how real it is. He was a mentally ill man who was emotionally tortured his entire life after the death of his sister. He was told he killed his sister and his parents did not want him, they wanted his sister. For parents to force their kid to take on their dead sisters identity because she died is abuse. And no one knew, no one helped him.

This was furthered by him being an outcast because of his family meaning he couldn’t make the positive ties he had needed. The town treated him badly because of something that happened to him (well at least so they thought).

I also think it is good because you can see him somewhat deteriorate when he loses “his sister” over and over. He loses so much control when he loses her. And it’s also super interesting to me how much they humanised him. Lots of movies where people are mass murderers or kidnappers show them as a monster but this movie really said ‘hey, it’s not that simple’.

He grapples with wanting to protect Jennifer Lawrence and wanting to fit in, whilst also trying to manage his psyche and mental illness. It is clear that he did not want to hurt Jennifer Lawrence however, in that moment, when he realized he couldn’t have both unless she was Carrie Anne, for him things changed.

Now, I’m no psychologist/psychiatrist, and I’m not condoning his actions in any way. But it is so powerful to show a normal person ruined by society over time. He was a child and there was an accident, his parents abused him for years before he could no longer take it and yes, murdered them. Then he spent the rest of his life trying to atone for “killing his sister” by “protecting her and keeping her safe”. Obviously, that isn’t what was happening but for him, it is, he was protecting his sister. The town shunned the boy they believed lost his parents and sister in a terrible way.

So, I really think this movie goes to show how society can ruin people and mental illness can have terrible impacts. He was a regular guy, any one of us could have become him if we had similar circumstances and I think the depth of his character is what really makes this a good movie. Even after all he had lived through and the persisting mental illness, he is kind to Jennifer Lawrence at all times until he needs her to become Carrie Anne.

I won’t say it’s particularly scary or anything but it is fascinating to me to finish a movie about a man kidnapping women and killing them, but feel somewhat sorry for the killer at the end when they show his story. A man who had nothing to hold on to but his sister and he needed her to ground himself.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this movie and if you’ve seen it in the comments at the bottom of the page. It is currently available on Aussie Stan and I highly recommend giving it a shot. 

“Curse of Chucky” kind of sucks…

Movies, Uncategorized

Now, I like a good horror movie as much as the next person so I was keen to watch ‘Curse of Chucky’. I am partial to the more supernatural horror movies like Polterguiest, or movies with demons and spirits and ghosts. I am not into the Saw type horror movies as a personal preference. So I figured I’d give ‘Curse of Chucky’ as go as I’d never seen any of the Chucky related movies.

So apparently in this version, I don’t know if this is every version but, Chucky was I guess a psycho guy who tried to kidnap a woman and make her and her kids his family and then he got shot and somehow had this mystical power (which like creates storms and stuff) to put his consciousness in a doll for revenge which is just wild to me. He then kills several families over the years before getting back to the family he wanted revenge on. Why’d Chucky kill all those other families before getting back to who he really wanted? However, we don’t find any of this out until the end of the movie. They just randomly throw magic in at the end of the movie. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, 40 minutes in and there is so much familial exposition yet nothing really goes on. In the beginning Chucky is delivered to the house and the paraplegic girls mother is killed (presumably by Chucky) but we didn’t even see what happened, so that was kind of boring. The girls family moves in to “help” her and sell the house a little while after the death along with their live-in nanny and the reverend is just chilling with them.

Then a little while later and the Reverend is killed but far from where Chucky was and he is beheaded. But really, we don’t see Chucky do anything for the first half of the movie.

Also, Chucky is kind of an asshole, he stabs the paraplegic girl in the leg, I’m guessing as like a joke about her not being able to feel it or something? Honestly I’m not sure because he’s already killed 2 people by then, why resort to a shallow stab in the leg? Why didn’t Chucky kill the girl the first night with her mother, he easily could have? Why’s he waste time if he wants to kill her?

Then Chucky electrocutes a girl but all he had to do was knock over a bucket of water. Low effort if you ask me. Also, he cuts Barb’s eye out and I guess she dies instantly?

Chucky’s power seems really insurmountable. He can cause car crashes, stop elevators, talk, hide knives and stab people and can potentially block cell service so why does he take so long to do anything. This begs the question; what is he doing, he could seemingly kill all of them very easily so why isn’t he. Why did he kill the mum, then leave Nica alone. Then, the Reverend didn’t do anything like that and apparently his cross didn’t save him from Chucky so that wasn’t a threat? And, if Chucky could kill the Revered in a car crash miles away from the house without doing anything why’s he struggle so much to kill the family?

What really astounds me is, Chucky just speaks when spoken to, moves himself and can literally turn his own head 180 degrees but they just act like that is normal. The brother-in-law literally asks Chucky to tell him all the things he can say and Chucky just starts spouting crap. Moral being – Chucky is bad at hiding his powers and these people are dumb.

Another problem I have is, Chucky is ginormous, he is the size of the child carrying him around. Although I will admit, he’s creepy as! He’s also kind of funny to look at and his movement is laughable and his voice is just weird.

It also does kind of bug me that I can see the paralyzed girl’s legs moving sometimes, I understand it was probably hard for the actress to entirely stop her moving her legs at all but it is still irritating.

It’s cool that the doll is an animatromic however, I don’t think it looks better than it would have if they used CGI. The CGI rain and ending were also just crap. Maybe that’s why they didn’t CGI Chucky, because they couldn’t make him look good with their CGI budget…

So as a whole, if you want a laugh and to watch a weird little animatronic doll walk around with a knife, sure watch this newest Chucky. However, you can’t just put scary music in and a creepy doll and think that’s enough. ‘Curse of Chucky’ is not scary. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

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